More Good News July 6, 2009
Hey everyone! Another excellent week in Ina. The weather has (mostly) been just how I like it, rain at night and nice and breezy during the day. We did, however, have to bike for twenty minutes and back in the rain with no rain suit last Wednesday to visit a potential investigator. We were drenched, it was a ton of fun.
Anyway, sounds like you all had a great Fourth, we actually had a decent one here too! With Annie (who is being baptized on the 18th for sure, already getting an interview in two days) we had a Branch picnic in a park nearby. Sadly, only her and one other family came, but the other family happened to be the one with the young 12-year-old kid that will be baptized. We had lots of good food, played some cards and blew bubbles with the family’s two-year-old daughter, and then we sang some songs together (with me on the guitar, yes, I can actually play it well now). We sang some Goo Goo Dolls, Eric Clapton, and some Third Eye Blind and then I taught them some hymns also (have to keep it churchy, you know). It was a blast, and though there were no hamburgers or root beer (angry about that one), there was watermelon and American music. And we taught them all an awesome lesson, and Annie invited another person in the park to come to Church with us on Sunday. She is already a missionary machine, and she isn’t even baptized yet! She asked me to do the baptism though, so I’m pretty excited to actually do the ordinance.
So that was an excellent day. I also set apart my companion to be second counselor last week, I don’t know if I mentioned that in my last email, but I did the actually setting apart and blessing, which was really neat. Just another small thing to throw in the email…
Let’s see… Our zone now has 12 people with a baptismal date, a record in the history of the zone, as far as we know. The work is starting to explode here, and it is only going to get better. Unfortunately, the rest of the zone needs to catch up to us a little bit, but I’m sure they will.
Good to hear Mr. Jobs is back at work, some of our English class students were telling me he was out, and he finally admitted to having an organ transplant awhile back. I wonder how the stock price is doing with the iPhone 3GS and his return… (hint hint).
Other things - my companion and I are actually getting along extremely well. I’m surprised, actually, but I think part of it is just focusing so much on the work and the people we are teaching. I think we will probably stay friends for quite a long time, even after the mission. That is something I probably wouldn’t have ever imagined just a few weeks ago. I hope it just gets better from here out.
Hmm… I’m going to have to apologize, the package home got delayed because there was an extreme lack of interesting things to put in the package. It will go out soon. The letters to the two Lowrys also got delayed, partially because I never wrote down LeeAnne’s new mission address from email last week - I guess I still have a bit of klutz in me. The package will hopefully go home next week, and I plan on sending off the two letters today, if I don’t get distracted.
I am also sending two pictures. Sorry, they are huge. We don’t have any way to resize them before sending on the library computers (I wish I had my Mac). There is one of Annie and one of Kouta-kun, the two people getting baptized. It will also give you an idea of what my companion looks/is like. Hope that helps! One will be in the second email.
As for the maple extract, mom, yes that was to you. But, if you have already sent out a package in the last week or two, don’t stress and you can wait til whenever to send it. It is no hurry.
Tell Richard sorry about his father passing away. It sounds like it was about his time, and that he was maybe released from some pain and some hardships and that might be making it a little bit easier for him. I’m glad the funeral went well, and I hope Richard is doing ok. Times like these are when it is nice to have the bigger perspective that the gospel brings. It would be pretty rough without it.
Derek and Jacob - no iPhone upgrades. If I can’t have one, you can’t have an upgrade while I’m gone, that is just kicking me while I’m down. Just kidding. Kind of. Also, I want emails about how life is. I don’t always have time to write back, but it is good to read.
Anyway, I think that is about all for this week. I have a half hour or so of email time left, so if you have any questions and happen to be on, just ask and I’ll probably respond. Miss you all, glad you are all well and had a good holiday. I’m doing extremely well here, so let’s just hope it continues. Talk to you all soon!
Greg Burnham
gregburnham@myldsmail.net
1-304 Itakadai
Meito-ku Nagoya-shi Aichi-ken
465-0028 Japan
